


Sun and Wind

by canadino



Series: ABO Verse - Altered Rules [2]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-28 00:54:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8424331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canadino/pseuds/canadino
Summary: The sun takes the traveler's coat off while the wind only makes him pull it closer.





	

“I think I should just make this clear,” Akashi says, apropos of absolutely nothing. They are walking back to the office to drop off their things after an impromptu visit to a manufacturing plant two hours away and back. It’s dark now, and Midorima blinks, the lights at the door blinding after driving along the freeway.“If you intend to ask me to be your...significant other in any way, shape, or form - I ought to remind you how that can complicate many things, considering our professional relationship as it is, with me as your superior and position within the company, and -”

“When did I indicate that I intended to do that?” Midorima asks, tiredly. He doesn’t mean for it to come out so harshly, but it’s been a long day and he really is physically exhausted and a part of him is put out by Akashi’s assumption on his part. 

It’s either Midorima’s curt tone or the fact he cut Akashi short in the middle of a clearly premeditated speech, but Akashi stutters, quickly attempting to redirect his train of thought, and says, “Of - of course not. I wasn’t trying to suggest you were. However, it’s completely natural for such a notion to come up, I think, especially since - well, I’ve had your mark during my last couple heats consecutively.” 

They ride the elevator up to the seventh floor together, and the absence of elevator music, turned off now well after-hours, makes it a bit more uncomfortable. “It doesn’t mean anything,” Akashi says, finally, breaking the silence. Midorima thinks to himself that it would have been a fine time to drop the subject. “Neither of us have time for that kind of thing, and I’m sure you’ve also had other partners, so it was perhaps presumptuous of me to have spoken up.” There is an almost palpable switch of direction. “You did well today. I don’t think that manager was expecting us to visit when we did, so I suspect his attempts to delay our review of the books really does support that he is hiding something.”

Midorima is not an easily shaken man. “I am confident in my conclusions,” he says. “And you reviewed my report and agreed with me, so I’ve had a reliable second opinion.” Akashi gives him a wane smile and disappears in the direction of his office. Midorima ponders for a moment whether he ought to wait for his superior to leave or whether he has been properly dismissed, but when Akashi does not resurface, he takes his leave and goes home. 

[=] 

Akashi Seijuro enters Midorima’s office and closes the door behind him, one hand over the handle turning the lock. The sound isn’t the only thing that makes Midorima look up - it’s the scent that has come into the room as well, the unmistakable smell of another Alpha that always brings a jolt of electricity into his blood. Betas are nondescript while Omegas are alluring like a lingering perfume - but Alphas are like entering a kitchen and smelling gas. Many of the people on the floor who work with Midorima are Betas, so it’s unusual for an Alpha to walk into his office, especially one that shares the face of his superior. But where the Akashi Seijuro he knows offers no identifying scent beyond a faint whiff of camellias, this Akashi Seijuro is the one who appears at large press conferences and shares the same phonetic name as his brother, only written with different characters. “Hello there,” Seijuro says. “It’s finally good to meet you.”

“We’ve met before,” Midorima says briefly; it’s true. When someone climbs as far up the corporate ladder as he has, it would only be rude for Masaomi not to provide a chance to rub elbows with his previous inner circle. Only the first time Midorima meets Seijuro, Seijuro is clearly disinterested and distant. He meets Akashi in the same breath, and Midorima has his full attention. 

“Maybe,” Seijuro dismisses. He’s still leering at Midorima from the door. “I had to see who exactly has caught my brother’s eye.” 

Midorima continues signing off approvals on the documents in front of him. “Thank you for your kind words. I’m only doing my part as a member of this organization.”

Seijuro laughs, a loud unrestrained sound unlike the low chuckle Akashi allows himself. He finally pushes himself away from the door and approaches Midorima’s desk. “You know that’s not what I mean. You’ve been sleeping with him.” He knocks his knuckles against the edge of Midorima’s desk. 

Midorima puts his pen down. “Your brother is an Alpha,” he says finally. “As am I, as you’re aware.”

Seijuro leans forward, and his tie, a deep crimson, dangles and pools up on the pile of paper on the desk. He takes in a deep breath and says, “Did you know, Midorima Shintarou? If an Omega is marked by the same Alpha several heats in succession, the scent mark lingers for longer each time? My brother and I may not enjoy spending extended periods of time together, but I trust my nose. Since I’ve entered this office, I’ve smelled it: the same scent marker he’s been carrying around for the past few months.” 

Midorima is not an easily shaken man, and he levels an unwavering look with Seijuro. “I have a very busy schedule today. If you’ve come to threaten me or you wish to tell your father - I suppose I can’t stop you, but my record shows no changes in the recent past and I have no intention of using your brother for any professional mobility.” 

Less reputable tabloids will tell the average reader that the Akashi Empire cannot be trusted by virtue of the twin that it uses as its public image - no person anyone would trust their money with would smile so deviously. “How dull,” Seijuro declares. “My brother doesn’t mind being used like that, because he’ll watch gleefully when someone falls from grace because they weren’t capable of climbing so high.” He leans further now, and Midorima’s hair on the back of his neck stands on end with another Alpha coming close into his space. “Sleep with me, Shintarou.”

Midorima is not an easily shaken man, but he blinks and leans back, traitorously allowing Seijuro a momentary advantage. “Excuse me?”

“If my brother is a deviant for being an Omega in a lineage of Alphas, then - we really must be opposing forces, because I can’t stand Omegas. It’s a cheap lay, just because they’re biologically inclined to want us. There’s no sense of victory there. Have you ever slept with another Alpha? It’s-” Seijuro’s eyes cloud over and Midorima wrinkles his nose; the scent of Alpha is stronger. “The rush of the fight and subjugation makes it unlike any other.” 

Midorima stands now, because he’s being backed into a corner and it’s making his fingers twitch and his legs tense. “This isn’t appropriate,” he says. 

“Of course it isn’t. That’s the point. Won’t this be that much more satisfying than that brother of mine? Someone who is used to being held won’t know exactly how to satisfy an Alpha, you must know-” 

(The instances that they do switch positions, Akashi is clumsy and sloppy, aiming badly and clawing at Midorima’s arms and reduces into an itchy mess so that they switch positions again before the session is over.)

“-and as an Alpha, I’ve seen more than my brother has. Omegas mature later than Alphas, and our father made sure to keep him under close watch until he was certain his black sheep son could be managed-”

“If I may interject,” Midorima says, and Seijuro screeches to a stop. So it’s a family thing, between these brothers, that they are so unused to being interrupted that they are reduced to silence when it happens. “All this time, you have talked on and on about your brother. I can’t help but wonder if you actually want to sleep with me or if you just want to do it to upset your brother.” It’s presumptuous of him, Midorima realizes as the words leave his lips. He’s fallen straight into the same fallacy Akashi had of him, the idea that Akashi would be upset if Midorima had another romantic or sexual partner. 

Seijuro gives him a steely look, left eye lighter than his right so that it almost looks golden in the right light. “What does it matter to you if my brother is upset? He knows better than to treat you badly in the workplace no matter what his personal opinion of you may be.” 

“That isn’t what I meant. I won’t be used as a chip in your family feud. Your brother and your relationship is for the two of you to decide, but please leave your own employees out of it.” Seijuro has stepped away from the desk, and Midorima has gained a piece of his space back. He doesn’t exactly have the upperhand yet, but he feels less threatened. “Now if you’ll excuse me.” There’s a shadow of someone standing outside the door, clearly hesitating because he’s sure the stench of Alpha is seeping out and the walls aren’t well soundproofed so their conversation must be coming through as tense noise. Seijuro steps back, as much of a retreat as he’ll admit to.

“You two deserve each other,” he spits, barrelling out of the office once Midorima opens the door and the Beta who is called Takao and laughs so loud that Midorima can hear him from across the floor has to step aside to avoid getting shoved aside. Seijuro’s bad mood colors the the space he crosses and Midorima knows morale is shot for the rest of the day. 

“Bad time?” Takao asks cheekily, smiling with teeth. Midorima feels a headache coming on, both from the standoff with Seijuro and knowing Takao’s tendency to cheerfully ramble loudly. It will be a trying rest of the day. 

[=]

When Akashi answers the door, he’s dressed in a large sweater and a skeptical expression. Midorima has a key card to the building now, so he does have an element of surprise coming so late at night after finally taking care of Takao’s mess, but Akashi does not have to open the door to speak to him. He hasn’t seen Akashi dressed down like this, most of their meetings happening either after business hours or at pre-established times when both of them are given ample time to prepare. “I’m not in my heat right now,” Akashi says flatly. 

“I know,” Midorima says. “You call me first the moment you are.” It hadn’t taken Midorima long to notice the pattern, as Omegas did not suddenly snap into their heats as popularly portrayed; there was a preparation period when chemicals were falling into place as a warning and Akashi tended to summon him then, before it came to a head. Rationally, Midorima understood the unspoken (and purely self-deduced, he realizes) reasoning that Akashi would rather be marked early on so he could keep his heat in check for longer, but the way Akashi now flushes faintly at the remark is satisfying to Midorima. 

“What do you want?”

Midorima is used to difficult conversations; he wouldn’t be where he was in the company if he wasn’t. “I said I had no intention of asking you to be my significant other, but if that’s what you want us to be, then I have no problem with it.” 

Akashi says nothing for a long time. “What would you do if I told you I have no interest in that and you proposing that is disappointing to me?”

Midorima feels the same kind of challenge that Seijuro presented earlier in the day, but it’s colored differently. “I would leave. I know how to pick my battles.”

Akashi says, “Come in.” 

Midorima has been in Akashi’s apartment suite before, but now he is taking the time to fully observe it and take it in. He knows exactly what Akashi’s bedroom looks like, down to the finest detail, but now that he really looks at it, the living room has a very sterile feel once he processes the sleek couch and polished coffee table. Everything looks so strategically placed, like an apartment meant to show prospective tenants. Akashi’s kitchen is a little different, items scattered more loosely about but still clean. He is drawing up some water for tea. 

“Your brother paid me a visit,” Midorima starts. 

“Did he?”

Midorima pulls at the knot in his tie to give his hands something to do. Akashi is quietly measuring out tea leaves, his back facing him. “He told me I should sleep with him. He knows that I sleep with you during your heats. I hope we haven’t been too obvious; I’ve been trying to keep it discreet.” 

“It’s discreet,” Akashi says. Without the sharp lines and cleanness of his suits and well-tailored outfits, Akashi looks so unsuspecting. He looks like anyone Midorima could pluck off the street and have a coffee with and wake up late next to, unlike the reality where he must pencil in appointments and (usually) call ahead of time. Akashi and his twin brother are built shorter than most Alphas, and Midorima doesn’t know if it’s because Akashi is an Omega, but he feels a sudden instinct to pull him close. 

“You and your brother look awfully alike, as you already know.” Midorima says nothing for a moment, and he knows it as well as Akashi that it’s a subtle power play. “But I told him I wasn’t interested in getting involved in your personal disputes. He clearly seemed to think you would not be happy if he and I were to get together.” Midorima hears the sound of hot water seeping through dry tea leaves. “Would you?”

“Would I what?” Akashi is being deliberately coy. There is nothing that escapes an heir of an international organization, one trained at birth to rule over others. He knows how to play a long game, feign ignorance to have someone show their hand before responding. As a watched pot never boils, a watched teapot won’t soak any faster. “Would I wh-” he says again, turning around when Midorima doesn’t answer, but Midorima is right behind him and Akashi tips his head to meet his eyes and gets kissed. 

Midorima feels that he’s pulled the breath right out of Akashi’s mouth, just as the sun makes the traveller remove his coat. He feels that he’s dragged the words right out of Akashi’s mouth, for as he pulls away, Akashi says wretchedly, “I wouldn’t. I would not be happy if you were with my brother. Or with anyone else right now.” He puts an unsteady head on the counter and grips back when Midorima gingerly takes his hand. “Alphas are expected to shop around and I do still think it would be complicated if we were in a relationship given our professional circumstances. But-” The words don’t come out like Midorima’s confession in the hall, but they’re in the air. That’s good enough. “Stay over tonight,” Akashi says, and it’s spoken like an order but sounds like a petition. 

“Alright,” Midorima says.

**Author's Note:**

> Why did this take me so long to finish...


End file.
